Keeping Pests Out of Your Garden
John Smith is an avid garden and lawn care enthusiast. John is also an avid blogger. You can read more of his articles at http://www.troybilt-equipment.com/.
Your garden can be ruined by animals and pests invading the area. Pets like dogs and cats have a tendency of trying to help you fertilize the area but no one wants to eat lettuce that has been sprayed on by a dog or even cucumbers that had to fight the cat poop to grow. There are natural remedies you can use to rid your garden of these creatures as well as other vermin that may be lurking where you can’t see them.
Keep Dogs Out of your Garden
You don’t want to make your dog sick by using harsh chemicals in your garden nor do you want to contaminate the produce either. You can mix your own dog repellent by mixing moth crystals or dried, crushed lemon rind with equal parts of rue (Ruta graveolens) and chili powder. If this doesn’t work mix two tbs. hot sauce, two tsp. cayenne pepper, one chopped onion, one crushed garlic clove, and one quart of boiling water. Steep this for three to five hours and then spray in the area around your garden.
Your Garden is Not a Litter Box
Cats tend to use gardens as their own personal litter box. To stop this habit, try using chicken fertilizer or orange peels with coffee grounds to work into the top layer of the soil. You can also mix a quarter cup of shampoo, a quarter cup of disinfectant like Lysol with warm water. Add this to a sprayer and spray the area. Place chicken wire directly over the soil to prevent cats from digging in your garden. This should be used with one of the other methods as well.
The Slime of Slugs
Snails are a particularly annoying pest to have invade your garden but they can cause major damage to plants. If you notice they have been visiting over night it is most likely because you are watering in the evening. The easiest way to deal with these slimy invaders is to sprinkle them with salt. If that sound too cruel to you, use beer traps. NOT bear traps but beer, like the ale that is served in most bars across the country. Dig a hole and place a wide mouth jar in the hole with beer in it. The slugs will crawl in and drown. Seaweed, lava rock and coffee grounds are also great deterrents. Pile three to five inches around the perimeter of the garden. Seaweed is salty and is a natural deterrent for slugs.
Bunnies that Eat your Carrots
Those little, long eared bunnies you see every night hopping across your lawn may be cute but they can destroy a garden in no time. To stop rabbits or even a mouse infestation mix five tbs. of cayenne pepper with a gallon of water and one tbs. of dishwashing liquid and spray your plants. You can also try placing mothballs in a butter bowl and poking holes in the lid. You can place these bowls strategically around your garden to deter both rabbits and mice.
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